The A380 is the largest airliner to ever part with the pavement: it can hold as many as 800 passengers in full sardine-can configuration, although Air France has mercifully limited the crowd to 535 in first, business and coach classes. In preparation for its entry into service in 2007, airports widened runways and hardened taxiways. Its catering trucks rise two stories off the ground to reach the galleys.
France's national carrier got the debut of the Europe-built jet off with considerable élan. The flight leaving John F. Kennedy Airport was packed with partying Francophiles, journalists and airline junkies. A band on board played "C'est Magnifique" before takeoff and during the flight; birthdays were celebrated; the champagne flowed.
Air France is trying to bring back the party to the skies. There are six bars on the plane, which encourages passengers to mingle (in their own class, of course). In the front of the upper deck, in the business section, there's even an art gallery of sorts: flat-screen TVs displaying digital previews of the New York and Paris cultural scenes, a somewhat lavish use of space.
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